Matsudaira Tadaatsu

Matsudaira Tadaatsu (松平忠厚) (September 19, 1851 – January 24, 1888) was a Japanese civil engineer. He was one of the few members of the Iwakura Mission who stayed in the United States after graduating from a college there. He worked in mines in the western United States and Pennsylvania.

In this Japanese name, the surname is Matsudaira.

Early life and education

Matsudaira was born on September 19, 1851 Edo Castle, which is now part of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.[1] His father was Matsudaira Tadakata, and his older brother was Matsudaira Tadanari. He attended a Christian church in Tsukiji. In 1872, Matsudaira went to New York with Tadanari as part of the Iwakura Mission.[2] They enrolled in Rutgers University in New Jersey. Matsudaira transferred to Harvard and graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1877. Tadakata ordered both of his sons to return home in 1879, but only Tadanari returned.[3] Matsudaira was one of the only members of the Iwakura Mission to remain in the United States.

Career

After graduation Matsudaira worked for the Manhattan Elevated Railway. While working there, he invented the trigonometer, a surveying tool. He then moved to Wyoming and worked as an engineer at the Union Pacific Railroad.[4] He later worked in mines in Idaho and Montana. He became the city engineer of Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1884. While living in Pennsylvania he married and had two children with Cary Sampson, the daughter of Archibald Sampson, a general in the United States Army. One of his children was Kinjiro Matsudaira.

Matsudaira contracted tuberculosis, and the family moved to Denver, Colorado in hopes that the dry climate would improve his health.[5] Before he died, he made some maps of the state.[3] He died on January 24, 1888. In 1952 several Japanese Colorodans erected a memorial in Riverside Cemetery in his name. However, even though the memorial stone says that he was the first Japanese person to live in Colorado, the federal census suggests that other Japanese people lived in Colorado before 1890.[1]

Further reading
  • Iinuma, Nobuko (1996). 黄金のくさび 海を渡ったラストプリンス松平忠厚. Kyōdo Shuppansha. ISBN 9784876633456.

References
  1. Hosokawa, Bill (2005). Colorado's Japanese Americans: From 1886 to the Present. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-0-87081-877-6.
  2. Wei, William (2016-04-05). Asians in Colorado: A History of Persecution and Perseverance in the Centennial State. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-80636-5.
  3. Sant, John E. Van (2000-04-19). Pacific Pioneers: Japanese Journeys to America and Hawaii, 1850-80. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02560-0.
  4. Japanese American history : an A-to-Z reference from 1868 to the present. Niiya, Brian., Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.). New York: Facts on File. 1993. ISBN 0-8160-2680-7. OCLC 26853950.CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. Wei, William (2016-04-05). Asians in Colorado: A History of Persecution and Perseverance in the Centennial State. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-80636-5.
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